Onkyo Granbeat DP-CMX 1 audiophile smartphone
We’ve seen phones with “audiophile DACs” but the Onkyo Granbeat DP-CMX 1 flips that idea around. The Granbeat is the Hi-Fi firm’s first smartphone. Of course, it plays hi-res audio files.
Onkyo is better know for their amplifiers and headphones. Naturally, it also has some pretty great digital audio players (DAPs).
Now, instead of adding its tech to a smartphone, it has created a smartphone around its audio tech.
Onkyo Granbeat DP-CMX 1
The Onkyo Granbeat DP-CMX 1 looks classy in a typically soap-bar configured smartphone skin.
Phone specs
The user interface appears to have a black and green vibe going on through its 5-inch IPS display that pushes out a resolution of 1080 x 1920.
It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 MSM8956 chipset. It is packing 3 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage.
The audiophile phone runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow).
The rear camera is a 16MP unit with the front facer coming in at 8MP.
Audio player
The volume knob on the back of the handset looks to be borrowed from their DAP.
Looking at its more audio-centric features, there’s balanced headphone output, an audio board with a pair of DACs and amps,
Playback has everything covered. We’re talking, DSD, DSF, DSD-IFF, MQA, FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, Ogg-Vorbis, MP3 and AAC.
According to the product page, this makes it possible to “sense the singer’s breathing”, and to hear musicians’ “delicate touch” and “fine nuances”.
Onkyo Granbeat DP-CMX 1 price and availability
The Granbeat was announced at a Japanese launch event on January 26th.
I am hoping it finds its way over to the UK. If/when it does, I am expecting an asking price the wrong side of a grand.
